Kurtenbach: There's no denying it  the 49ers have a franchise-changing duo in Shanahan and Garoppolo

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SANTA CLARA — The most important duo in football — and perhaps in all of professional sports — is the pairing of an NFL head coach and his team’s quarterback.

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It’s only been three games, but after Sunday’s come-from-behind 25-23 win over the Tennessee Titans at Levi’s Stadium, it’s becoming undeniably evident that the 49ers have a special battery on their hands in head coach Kyle Shanahan and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

The duo has won three straight games since Garoppolo took over as the starting quarterback on Dec. 3, and heading into the final two games of the season against two division leaders, the Niners — yes, the San Francisco 49ers — are arguably the hottest team in the NFL.

It’s somewhat bizarre. After all, this 49ers’ roster isn’t much different than the one that lost its first nine games — in many ways, it’s a worse roster — but those teams didn’t have a quarterback like Garoppolo, and that meant that they didn’t stand much of a chance.

Putting the accurate, crafty, and to-this-point unflappable Garoppolo under center has unlocked so much for this 49ers team — it’s been quite incredible to watch it transform from a laughingstock into a competent (dare I say strong?) unit.

It’s also unlocked the full, prodigious abilities of the Niners’ head coach and offensive coordinator.

After that 0-9 start to the season, doubt was started to develop over Kyle Shanahan’s hiring as head coach this past offseason. Don’t bother denying it now, 49ers’ fans — nothing can truly be deleted from the internet.

And it was fair to wonder if Shanahan was in over his head after 11 games. Shanahan was billed as an offensive genius when he arrived in Santa Clara — after what he did as the offensive coordinator in Atlanta, Washington, and Cleveland, his reputation as a play caller around the NFL was close to unassailable. But with his team 1-10, his offenses looked to be the 49ers’ weak link.

Can you be a good head coach if your team isn’t good at the thing you’re supposedly great at?

Yes, Shanahan inherited the worst roster in the NFL and not one viable starting quarterback when he arrived in Santa Clara, and yes, his goal was to build up the franchise over time (there’s a reason he signed a six-year contract with the 49ers) but one can only imagine what Shanahan’s relationship with the fanbase would be had the trend of the 49ers’ first 11 games continued through the end of the season.

That’s all hypothetical though — since Garoppolo has taken over as quarterback Shanahan’s offensive genius is beginning to come through. Niners players are adamant that Shanahan’s play calls haven’t changed since Garoppolo was named the starting quarterback before the 49ers’ game in Chicago, but that’s hard to believe.

Unlike Brian Hoyer and C.J. Beathard, Garoppolo can actually execute the plays Shanahan wants to call. He can make plays on his own. He can even extend drives on third down [7-of-14 Sunday, only one punt (which came after a drop)]. All of that instills confidence, and having true confidence in your quarterback changes the paradigm for a play caller.

"When you can stay out there longer, that’s how you get in a rhythm," Shanahan said Sunday. "You stay on the field, you have a bunch of long drives… You actually have a chance to set some things up and get ‘em a little bit off balance, and that’s when it gets fun.

“It’s tough when you go 3-and-out.”

Remember those?

Shanahan has proven, week-in, week-out this season that he can manage a locker room, install a culture, promote accountability, and empower both coaches and players. Those are excellent qualities of a head coach.

But now we’re finally seeing Shanahan’s bonafides as an offensive coordinator.

It’s fair to say that he, like Garoppolo, is living up to the hype.

Shanahan is really, really good at this.

The 49ers don’t have any big-time wide receivers that can singlehandedly cut through coverages and win one-on-one. They have an offensive line that’s poor in both run and pass blocking. Against good defenses, they’re completely overmatched on nearly every down.

But they do have a great — a truly great — play-caller and a quarterback who can diagnose a situation and put actually put the ball where it needs to go — no matter how tight the window might be.

The 49ers running backs averaged fewer than 2 yards per carry Sunday against the Titans, but Shanahan’s play calls and Garoppolo’s impressive accuracy and zip pushed the Niners’ offense above 400 yards against one of the top-ranked defenses in the NFL.

The 49ers’ offensive performance Sunday was almost symphonic — Shanahan was in a flow state with passing plays, finding ways to exploit weak links in Tennessee’s man-to-man scheme to put not-exactly-marquee players like Garrett Celek (who had a 41 yard reception) and Kendrick Bourne (a 54 yard reception) in open space to make big, game-changing plays.

It’s only been three games, but this is the duo that can restore respectability to the 49ers’ franchise.

This pairing has a chance to lead the 49ers to their sixth Super Bowl title.

The former can happen as soon as next year — perhaps it’s even happening right now.

The latter? The big one? Any chance of that is a few years down the line. But it’s on the table.

There are going to be a lot of Garoppolo jerseys sold this Christmas and if the 49ers finish 2017 strong and parlay that into a good offseason, they could be a trendy pick to make the playoffs next year.

What happens from that point is anyone’s guess — but so far, there’s no reason to cap the possibilities for Shanahan and Garoppolo.